EPA says it didn't break conditions of Shree mine approval

The Tasmanian Environment Protection Agency says changing the permit for the Shree Minerals Nelson Bay River mine does not break the conditions of it's original approval.

The EPA has given permission for potentially acid forming rock waste, to be stored above ground for 30 months, because the mine will produce 20 times more potentially acid forming rock waste, than the company first estimated.

'Potentially acid forming rock waste' is the bi-product of open cut mining and there is a legacy on the Tasmanian west coast of acid drainage, caused by poor storage of the waste.

The original EPA approval for the Shree Minerals Nelson Bay River open cut iron-ore mine, states that the only way to dispose of the waste on site safely and indefinitely, is under water in a pit.

But during the approval process, the company dramatically underestimated how much waste the mine would produce, so temporary permission to store the waste above ground was granted.

EPA Director Alex Schaap, says the fact that it is only a temporary solution, means the original approval conditions were not contravened.

"What the conditions make quite clear is that potentially acid forming rock has to end up contained within that first pit," he said.

"And that remains the case.

"What has changed is that as the mine developed, the operators found that there was a good deal more acid forming rock in the first pit itself.

"Hence, they weren't able to maintain that potential acid forming rock in the pit, while they were mining it.

"I've allowed them to temporarily bring that waste out of the pit, store it on a special pad, treat it with alkaline material and then immediately, upon the cessation of mining in that pit, return it to that pit where it then has to stay, as required by those original approval conditions," he said.

Mr Schaap says the EPA knew that Shree Minerals had underestimated the amount of rock waste the first pit would produce.

But he says he decided there was no basis for requiring the company to provide a better estimate, because the EPA had enough information to make a decision.

"We did have discussions about that at the time," he said.

"We felt that the company's estimation of the amount of acid forming rock in that pit, was likely to be an underestimate.

"We suggested to them that it would be in everybody's interest for them to undertake further drilling," he said.

"However the assessment process is such, that once we have enough information on which to make a decision, we're obliged to go ahead and do that, we can't simply hold off because we'd like a little extra."

The company informed the EPA of the change in estimated rock waste, after the approval process was over.

Meaning that the new information was never made public and the permit variation was never subject to public consultation.